The details are far too complicated to go into, but local to me we had an instance of somebody extending their garden onto publicly owned land.
A number of people, and the parish council, wrote to the local authority to complain and demanding enforcement.
The borough council that has responsibility for planning, and to which title of the land in question was actually registered as it turned out (initially they were unaware), responded - incredibly - in the shape of a planning officer visiting the peccant party and suggesting that he/she apply for a certificate of lawfulness for the change of use, implying that it would regularise the matter!
Long story short, they had the power to enforce but didn't want to as they didn't seem to consider it serious enough and/or in the public interest - although they carefully avoided giving the specific reason.
The planning department stonewalled all approaches so letters were sent to the Chief Executive and the Council's solicitor/head of leagl, giving them various reasons why they should act - not least that a number of residents were prepared to annexe some of the council's land themselves if if they didn't sort it out, and various other devices for generating adverse publicity which would have made the council look ridiculous.
The eventual result was that the party was ordered to remove the fence from the council's land.
A great deal of aggro arose of course and no little amusement, particularly when the fence was demolished by some wellwishers early one morning.
You might have to work at shaming them into it. But be prepared for them conniving to make it legal to save themselves the trouble.
Last edited by: Manatee on Wed 23 Dec 20 at 22:11
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Planning Breach Advice. new
Planning Breach Advice. new